| Renée Wolfs
This in-depth practical guide, written by an adoptive parent for adoptive parents, explores the questions adopted children are likely to ask, with suggestions for helpful explanations and answers. Looking at different age groups in turn, the author provides a wealth of suggestions for possible dialogue with adopted children and age-appropriate answers to common questions and fears.
| Michelle Bell
The booklet, designed for children to complete, that accompanies Elfa and the box of memories
| Michelle Bell
Memories can be good and bad, happy and sad; those we want to keep alive and others we would rather forget. Looked after children may have more difficult memories that most, because of separation and loss and traumatic events that may have taken place. In this charming picture book, Elfa the elephant discovers that sharing her memories and remembering the good things that happened is more helpful than keeping them locked away.
| Laurel Ashton
When Laurel and David decide the time is right to expand their family, things don’t go according to plan. Published as part of the Our Story series, this honest and heartfelt memoir narrates their struggle to become parents – coping with the discovery of their infertility, the emotional and physical demands of IVF, their experiments with alternative therapies, and their decision to adopt.
| Jennifer Cousins
This quick reference guide explores the important issue of recruiting new carers and welcoming a wide range of permanent families. Written in an accessible and straightforward style it provides a breadth of information and advice that will provide social workers with a framework for best practice in family-finding.
| Ruth and Ed Royce
Published as part of the Our Story series, this is the story of Ruth and Ed Royce’s journey from childlessness to celebrating as a family. From a dual perspective, each with their own anxieties, expectations and vulnerabilities, they look back on their decision to adopt, to the fear that their family was falling apart, to their experience of music and art therapy, and then on to their decision to adopt a second time.
| Multiple
This special issue of the journal is guest edited by Sonia Jackson, editor of Nobody Ever Told Us School Mattered(BAAF, 2001) and a leading researcher and writer in the field. It focuses on the education of looked-after children and how and where they are supported or – more often – failed by “the system”. It features articles from England, Scotland and Australia. Themes include: the role of social pedagogy in foster care; education and self-reliance among care leavers; the work of Our Place, a special centre promoting the educational achievement of looked after and adopted children; and the views of adoptive parents.
| Julia Wise
Published as part of the Our Story series, Flying Solo tells Julia Wise’s story of adopting on her own. In this personal story, Julia offers a realistic look at the joys and pitfalls of being a single adoptive parent and the impact of her decision on herself, her family and close friends.
| Hedi Argent
Josh and Jaz are five-year-old twins who have been adopted by a lesbian couple, Sue and Fran. This heartwarming picture book encourages an understanding and appreciation of same-sex parents and other diverse family groupings.
